Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1917 — House Building in Bermuda Simple and Cheap Process. [ARTICLE]

House Building in Bermuda Simple and Cheap Process.

When a native of Bermuda decides that he wants to build a house he goes to some quarry where the soft, rich, creamy coral sandstone has been stripped of its thin earth covering, and begins sawing. He, or someone employed by him, with a long, coarsetoothed saw, cuts out blocks of stone measuring about two feet long, one foot wide and six Inches thick. As soon as he has quarried enough of these blocks he allows them to stand in the open air for a few weeks to harden, for when first cut they are as full of holes as a Swiss cheese and almost as soft, Joseph Laren writes in St. Nicholas? The'Hardening" period ov?r;~nu r Klocks are placed one on fop of -anotherto formthe walls, and one beside another on a supporting framework; overlapping a little at their upper and lower edges to make the roof. When the building has been erected the Bermudian covers his outside walls and roof with a thick coat of whitewash, which hides all the cracks and joints and holes in the stone and gives the house a smooth, beautiful finish, which is very pleasant to the eye, and just as pleasant to the sense of touch. Even the big chimneys, the porches and the fences are built of the same stone. The white roofs have another important office, for the rain that falls upon them, as It runs off, is caught and led Into cisterns. It Is easy to underis when one learns that there are no streams or wells In Bermuda, and that the Islanders are .thus entirely dependent on